James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

DM.... you sneaky devil you !

 

Harden is right behind Archibald when it comes to ppg produced by a single player during the regular season. Did Archibald play in all 82 games? Did he end up producing the most total points by a single player during the regular season? How close is Harden to producing the most points by a player during the regular season? If Harden produces the most total points by a player in a regular season then that would be a great thing to add to his resume and give the voters something to think about.

 

just did a quick calculation to answer my own questions

I believe that Archibald produced 4,539 total points in a regular season when counting his own ppg and the points he produced off of his assists...he did this in 80 games

Harden has scored 2085 points so far and produced another 1938 points off of his assists which gives him 4023 total points produced. According to my calculations, if Harden can produce around 48 ppg for the last 11 games of the season then he'll end up producing the most total points by a player in the regular season

 

so Harden just dropped 38 points and 17 assists tonight

I have no doubt that he'll set the record for most total points produced by a player in the regular season

 

Harden's defense has been solid for a while too, and also reduced his turnovers. I'm usually more on the critical side, but there's really nothing to nitpick about him at this point.

 

IT"S OVER SHUT IT DOWN!!!

HARDEN 2017 MVP!!!!!!!

 

"Devin Booker gunning for that MVP now" - ESPN

 

MVP! MVP! MVP! My heart was full hearing the crowd chanting tonight.

 

MVP and it's not even close

 

Harden is going to attempt the most FT's in a season since 1987 with Michael Jordan.

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html

Now at 47.2% chance

I think what would clinch it for him (other than destroying the Thunder on Sunday and beating GSW), would be if he finishes 2nd in scoring and 1st in assists, and he is well on his way to pass Tiny Archibald for single season average on points created per game.

 

It's incredible what Harden is doing, but remember when Tiny set the record there was no three point line.

 

that's true, but Archibald also played 46 mpg compared to Harden's 36.5 mpg, and I believe the pace was much higher back then as well

 

#NORESTING

harden keeps playing well and rockets win... he is soooo close

 

Has to be Harden after stepping up his game even more lately. The problem is the media who cause general fans to mainly side with the media darling, Westbrook, and the Harden / Rockets fans to get defensive. This has caused people not to enjoy both players having historically great seasons and trying to diminish one or the other just because of personal preference. All these media idiots making the most ridiculous statements to give Westbrook the edge and **** on Harden is just laughable. I've not heard one single intelligible argument. Not one.

The two most common arguments are flawed, which are the triple-double stat in itself and how WB has to carry a worse roster than Harden's or whomever.

The problem with people using the triple-double stat is three-fold:
- A) it's a stat and most of the people say that if he doesn't make it, even by 0.01, they will not vote for him. That in itself is disrespectful to WB, the game and a serious knock on their own credibility and integrity.
- B) they focus so much on this stat, that it leaves little room for context. The context they do use is selective.
- C) they ignore stats from others, mainly Harden, to drive their own agendas. There's so many accolades and records Harden is setting, being in rare company himself, that it's obvious they are biased.

Then the second argument: the roster. Before the season MDA was supposedly a horrible hire, Gordon & Anderson injury prone shooters who couldn't do much else, Harden a SG who could not play the role of Nash etc. Westbrook had some great players in Kanter, Oladipo, Adams, some decent ones in Roberson and Ilyasova (who was traded), and now have added a good shooter and a very capable PF in Taj. Now when it comes to the MVP, all of a sudden Harden has a great roster and perfect even for his numbers and WB is carrying a horrible one. The most common line of reasoning is give WB the shooters Harden has and he would do even better. Again no context is provided and while everybody would agree our roster is better, our guys are under performing and Harden is carrying us on most nights, just like WB.

I do not believe in arguing about the coach, the system and how it affects stats or even performance, because it's flawed in itself. Saying how Harden's numbers are inflated due to MDA's genius coaching, or Kahwi being so good because of Pop is disrespectful to the coach and the player. In the end, a coach can say or try to have a system in place all he wants, the player has to perform and deliver. So I'm not taking any credit away from the coaches nor the players when discussing a player's MVP status. It's just never ending if you get into this. Just think of COY, is it maybe MDA's genius or Harden who makes him look good for example. There's a context, but holding the coach or system against a player is asinine in my humble opinion.

I would have no problem with WB winning if, it if wasn't for the FACT (yes you can objectively state this) that Harden is having a better season stats wise (dominating performances) and clearly making his team mates better which shows in a much better record.

 

It gets clinched if Rockets win on Sunday.

It has been fun watching the media try and throw Lebron in the mix. There is zero argument for him. Harden has him on stats, and record.

 

Which of our guys are underperforming?

 

Averaging 33 points 11 assists 7 boards 2 steals on 49.8 shooting and 37.7 from the 3pt line in March. These numbers are just insane.

 

Lou, Gordon has regressed somewhat. Ryno is hot and cold, Ariza is just putrid ON OFFENSE right now. Capella is solid and Nene and Beverley are being solid.Harden is bailing these guys night in night out.

 

Gordon/Ryno aren't even remotely close to "underperforming". 38% and 39% 3pt shooting from those guys is very respectable. And while you think that Capela and Beverley are only "solid", the reality is that they're having career years. Nene has also exceeded expectations (in terms of interior defense and finishing in the paint) for a 34 year old.

Ariza hasn't shot the 3 very well this year (35%), but I can overlook that b/c he always guards our opponent's best SG/SF and he's never shot the 3 consistently well (except for his final year in Washington). Compare his production to his prior two seasons. He's in line with them. And FWIW, Roberson shoots 26% from the 3 pt line.